Practice cartridge for automatic firearms

ABSTRACT

The projectile of the practice cartridge for automatic firearms consists of a synthetic jacket with a loose bulk granular filling, wherein the jacket will disintegrate upon exiting from the firearm barrel after firing to release the granules, which will be nondestructable during firing. Each granule consists of a heavy metal powder held together by a synthetic binder in the range of about 20 to 45 percent by weight. Each granule is disclike or lenticular in configuration.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Hubert Frey Steyerberg; Hans-Joachim Kaseler, Sieglar, Oberlahr, Germany [211 App]. No. 733,362

[22] Filed May 31, 1968 [45] Patented Mar. 16, 1971 [73] Assignee Dynamit Nobel Aktiengesellschalt Troisdorf, Germany [32] Priority May 31, 1967 [33] Germany [54] PRACTICE CARTRIDGE FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS 11 Claims, 1 Drawing Fig. 52 us. 01 102/92.7 [51] Int. Cl F42b 9/20 [50] Field ofSearch 102/92.7, 41

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,995,090 8/1961 Daubenspeck 102/92.7 3,123,003 3/1964 Lange, Jr. et a1. 102/91 3,216,358 11/1965 Findelsen 102/91 3,338,167 8/1967 Jungermann et a1... 102/92.7 3,385,215 5/1968 Jungermann 102/92.7

Primary Examiner-Robert F. Stahl Attorney-Craig & Antonelli ABSTRACT: The projectile of the practice cartridge for automatic firearms consists of a synthetic jacket with a loose bulk granular filling, wherein the jacket will disintegrate upon exiting from the firearm barrel after firing to release the granules,

which will be nondestructable during firing. Each granule consists of a heavy metal powder held together by a synthetic binder in the range of about 20 to 45 percent by weight. Each granule is disklike or lenticular in configuration.

Pate l ated March 16, 1971i 7: I 3,570,406

MENTOR:

aRT FR" lunmen/v luau! ATTORNEYS PRACTICE CARTRIDGE FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Practice cartridges are known wherein the projectile is a compressed article that will break into more or less large fragments upon striking an obstacle. Such a practice projectile is primarily designed to avoid ricocheting or rebounding.

It is also known to provide a practice cartridge with a projectile consisting of a projectile jacket that will disintegrate upon firing to release a compressed or loose inorganic filling after leaving the barrel of the firearm. Preferably, metallic powder has been employed as the filling. It is desirable to provide a relatively heavy filling so that the practice projectile will approach the weight of the live projectile as closely as possible to simulate the firing of a live projectile, particularly for purposes of actuating the automatic mechanisms of automatic firearms as in the case of using live ammunition. It is also desirable to provide the filling loosely packed within the jacket so that when the projectile leaves the barrel of the firearm, it will disintegrate into particles exhibiting only a very short range.

In order to satisfy the above requirements, a powder projectile filling has been employed heretofore; to satisfy the weight considerations, the powder has been made from heavy metal or the like. However, a projectile filling of the above-mentioned type still exhibits substantial disadvantages. Upon firing this type of prior art projectile, a more or less dense cloud of dust is produced in front of the firearm barrel, which may lead to a complete obstruction of vision during continuous firing. When firing from the deck of seagoing vessels, the clouds of dust may contaminate the air filtering systems necessary on board ships; furthermore, a dusting of the ship with pulverulent iron will cause all of the deck structures to be coated with rust. When firing over grassy areas, the inorganic dust is deposited in large quantities over wide areas; this can have the considerable disadvantage of harming cattle grazing in these areas at a later date. Iron powder filling with nothing more tends to coalesce due to corrosion to a solid mass, which can be disintegrated only with difficulty or not at all; to avoid this substantial disadvantage it is desirable to mix additives with the filling to prevent corrosion. Since the jacket of the projectile must be readily disintegratable upon exiting from the barrel of the firearm, there is a possibility that the jacket will rupture while still within the barrel to thus release the powder filling, which has a substantial disadvantage of greatly increasing the wear and tear of the barrel by the abrasive action on the inner wall thereof due to the released powder filling, particularly iron in powder.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to overcome some or all of the above-mentioned disadvantages. The cartridge of the present invention is designed to exhibit the required weight for purposes of actuating automatic firearms and is designed to be readily disintegratable without the projectile filling causing dust whirls or otherwise entailing disadvantageous effects during agricultural use of the surrounding soil. The practice cartridge of the present invention includes a projectile consisting of a projectile jacket and a filling, wherein the filling is a bulk material of loose granules consisting of a heavy metal powder bound with a binder, which granules per se cannot be broken up during firing.

With such a projectile filling structure according to the present invention, a training or practice cartridge is obtained wherein the desired projectile weight may easily be reached and will not produce any dust formation after disintegration upon leaving the barrel of the weapon. The granules consist of heavy metal powder combined by a binder so that they are no longer subjected to the danger of corroding. Also, with such a construction, the projectile filling will not impair or poison the surrounding soil or cattle during subsequent agricultural use of the surrounding soil. The binder ensures that the granules, upon firing, do not disintegrate and thus cannot produce any dust. On the other hand, the granules remain relatively soft so that they present practically no danger at all to any observers in the proximity of the firearm during firing. A furthur advantage resides in that even if the projectile jacket bursts within the firearm barrel during firing, the inner barrel wall will not be adversely affected by the granules, because the filling cannot exit through the small slots or breaks in the projectile jacket. Thus, the projectile filling remains within the projectile jacket until after the cartridge has left the barrel of the firearm. Furthermore, with the present invention, it is possible to employ lead or lead oxide for the granules, without the usual harmful effects of this material; this has the considerable advantage with respect to obtaining the weight necessary for effecting the automatic action of the automatic firearm so that the firearm may be handled as if under normal conditions. At the same time, the binder-combined granules of lead or lead oxide do not exhibit any disadvantages when absorbed by animals, such as cattle subsequently using the surrounding soil. Furthermore, no additives are necessary to protect against a corrosion of the projectile filling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more clear from the following detailed description of the drawing wherein the single FIGURE is a cross-sectional view through a cartridge employing the present invention taken along the central longitudinal axis aligned with the direction of intended flight.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING As shown in the drawing, the projectile l is mounted within a suitable per se conventional tubular cartridge case 2. The cartridge case 2 contains therein a suitable propellant powder charge 3 to be ignited by ignition means at the rear or bottom end of the cartridge. The projectile 1 consists of a synthetic material jacket 4 completely enclosing therein a loose bulk granule filling 5.

p A particularly advantageous composition of the granules for the projectile filling consists of particles of synthetic material homogeneously filled by heavy metal dust or metal oxide. The proportion of synthetic material in the granule can vary and is dependent upon the type of heavy metal or heavy pigment. Advantageously, the synthetic material is within the range of 20 to 45 percent by weight of the granule. For example, a preferable mixture for making a granule may consist of about 75 kg. of lead oxide and about 25 kg. of PVC concentrate. The projectile jacket is preferably formed from a synthetic material, for example a highly extensible thermoplastic material such as polyethylene or the like that will break up at least after leaving the barrel of the firearm.

Preferably, the granules are provided with such a configuration that they are subjected during flight after leaving the bar rel of the weapon to as large an air resistance as possible, so that their range will practically speaking not extend beyond the pressure wave of the combustion gases. For this purpose, the granules are preferably provided with a larger effective cross-sectional area in one profile plane than in another profile plane at right angles thereto. Particular advantages are gained with granules that are disclike or lenticular in shape.

It is preferable to form each granule from a mixture of inorganic material bound together with an organic binder. Particularly, it is desirable to use a metallic powder for the inorganic material; examples of metallic powder that may be used are iron, iron oxide, lead, and lead oxide. The binder may be a thermoplastic synthetic material, for example, or any of the known materials heretofore used as a binder in the formation of a one-piece pressed practice projectile.

Each of the granules is individually formed from a mixture of binder and filler powder. The granules within the jacket are in loose bulk form, that is there is no appreciable bonding or mechanical connection between adjacent granules. Advantageously, each granule is a homogeneous mixture of binder and metallic powder.

While a preferred construction of the present invention has been shown for purposes of illustration, together with specific preferred examples, further modifications, embodiments and variations are contemplated within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.

We claim:

1. A practice cartridge for automatic firearms or the like having a projectile receivable in a cartridge case and consisting of a projectile jacket and a projectile charge, wherein the projectile jacket and projectile charge disintegrate after firing, the improvement comprising the projectile charge having a plurality of loose bulk granules, each of the granules consisting of relatively heavy material essentially comprising metallic powder and binder material means holding said relatively heavy material into the granule form so as to be nondestructable upon firing.

2. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein each of the grains is a homogenous mixture of the relatively heavy metallic powder at the interior and the binder material means essentially comprising synthetic organic material.

3. The cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the proportion by weight of said binder material means is in the range of 20 to 45 percent of substantially each granule.

4. The cartridge according to claim 3, wherein each of said granules has an effective profile cross-sectional area substantially larger as viewed in one plane than as viewed in another plane at right angles thereto.

5. The cartridge according to claim 4, wherein each of said granules is disc shaped.

6. The cartridge according to claim 4, wherein each of said granules is lenticular in configuration.

7. The cartridge according to claim 4, wherein said one plane profile cross-sectional area is at least twice as large as said another profile cross-sectional area.

8. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said jacket consists essentially of a synthetic organic material.

9. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the proportion by weight of said binder material means is in the range of 20 to 45 percent of substantially each granule.

10. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said projectile consists of said jacket means substantially completely filled with said granules, and each of said granules consists essentially of said relatively heavy material being in powder form bound together with said binder material means.

11. The cartridge according to claim 14, wherein each of said granules has an effective profile cross-sectional area substantially larger as viewed in one plane than as viewed in another plane at right angles thereto. 

1. A practice cartridge for automatic firearms or the like having a projectile receivable in a cartridge case and consisting of a projectile jacket and a projectile charge, wherein the projectile jacket and projectile charge disintegrate after firing, the improvement comprising the projectile charge having a plurality of loose bulk granules, each of the granules consisting of relatively heavy material essentially comprising metallic powder and binder material means holding said relatively heavy material into the granule form so as to be nondestructable upon firing.
 2. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein each of the grains is a homogenous mixture of the relatively heavy metallic powder at the interior and the binder material means essentially comprising synthetic organic material.
 3. The cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the proportion by weight of said binder material means is in the range of 20 to 45 percent of substantially each granule.
 4. The cartridge according to claim 3, wherein each of said granules has an effective profile cross-sectional area substantially larger as viewed in one plane than as viewed in another plane at right angles thereto.
 5. The cartridge according to claim 4, wherein each of said granules is disc shaped.
 6. The cartridge according to claim 4, wherein each of said granules is lenticular in configuration.
 7. The cartridge according to claim 4, wherein said one plane profile cross-sectional area is at least twice as large as said another profile cross-sectional area.
 8. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said jacket consists essentially of a synthetic organic material.
 9. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the proportion by weight of said binder material means is in the range of 20 to 45 percent of substantially each granule.
 10. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said projectile consists of said jacket means substantially completely filled with said granules, and each of said granules consists essentially of said relatively heavy material being in powder form bound together with said binder material means.
 11. The cartridge according to claim 14, wherein eacH of said granules has an effective profile cross-sectional area substantially larger as viewed in one plane than as viewed in another plane at right angles thereto. 